Sounds Profitable

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Tom Webster shares new Sounds Profitable research from a survey of 5,473 Americans on whether people would watch an AI-generated revival of a canceled favorite show. The split is nearly even, at 45% likely and 41% unlikely, and views on AI hosts predict the answer best.
• RAJAR now measures both listening to and watching podcasts in the U.K., putting total weekly podcast consumption at 35% of th...

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Sounds Profitable, Coleman Insights and Locked On Podcast Network host a November 5 webinar on new research showing how podcasts build community, including that 43% of Americans surveyed have taken a podcast-related community action.
• Apple’s Safari 27 now blocks identity-resolution vendors including Unified ID 2.0, LiveRamp and ID5, and early data shows effective CPMs down 4% on iOS and ...

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Instagram is testing Features, a new tool for horizontal videos up to 90 minutes long, aimed at podcasters, comedians and other long-form creators. It lets Reels link to full videos and recommends them on Explore.
• Former Apple Podcasts executive Steve Wilson joins Netflix to lead podcast content acquisition, starting as a consultant. The hire comes as Netflix cuts about 6% of its workforce.
• Sup...

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Tenderfoot TV turned a Radio Rental episode into a LEGO-inspired stop-motion short on YouTube, while Apple Podcasts launched The Greatest Stories Never Seen, four animated videos built from podcast audio. Both pair original audio with new animation instead of filming hosts at a desk.
• The U.S. Small Business Administration now classifies creator-led businesses, podcasters included, under NAICS ...

This week in the business of podcasting:

• Right Side Up and Sounds Profitable host a free October 28 webinar on how AI use and discovery affect podcast ad budgets, drawing on The Podcast Landscape 2026 research.
• Tom Webster breaks down the Super Spenders report, finding that the 11% of podcast consumers who spend $300 or more account for roughly 62% of recalled podcast-driven spending.
• Spotify launches Memberships, letting creators...

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Tom Webster breaks down the new Super Spenders report, finding that the 11% of podcast consumers who spend $300 or more account for roughly 62% of recalled podcast-driven spending, and why they use more platforms and genres than other listeners.
• Podscribe and ART19 launch an integration that makes baked-in host-read ads measurable in HLS-delivered podcast episodes, with Daylight Media the firs...

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Signal Hill Insights’ Demos+ study of more than 3,000 monthly US podcast consumers finds the audience now skews Independent at 39%, with Democrats at 33% and Republicans at 29%, ahead of the 2026 midterms.
• Substack is adding dynamic ad insertion to the podcasts it hosts, with early access opening this week, and Sounds Profitable’s Bryan Barletta tells Adweek buyers will want more d...

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Spotify has unveiled Memberships, letting creators offer exclusive content and community perks for a fee, with creators keeping 90% of earnings and shows needing 100 consumption hours, 100 listeners or viewers and three episodes to qualify.
• Bumper released a free tool for sharing YouTube engaged views with advertisers, after YouTube’s late-August change roughly doubled average podcast vi...

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Right Side Up and Sounds Profitable host a free webinar on October 28 about how AI chatbots are changing podcast ad discovery and measurement. It draws on new LLM data from The Podcast Landscape 2026.
• IAB Tech Lab finalizes its Podcast Technical Measurement Guidelines v2.3, which clarify download and ad-delivery measurement for audio and video podcasts. CoHost is the first hosting company cert...

This week in the business of podcasting:

• Tom Webster breaks out the politics chapter of The Podcast Landscape 2026, a survey of 5,473 U.S. adults, covering how the podcast audience leans and whether a politician’s podcast appearance could sway midterm voters.
• Amplifi Media’s Steve Goldstein shares takeaways from a live Gen Z focus group at Podcast Movement 2026, from “best-of-ing” through podcast clips to ...

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Tom Webster breaks out the political findings from The Podcast Landscape 2026, including how Americans feel about politicians as podcast guests and whether those appearances could sway midterm voters.
• A Wondery and SmithGeiger study of 3,000 U.S. adults finds 81% of creator fans trust their favorite host as much as, or more than, their close friends. It also shows why multi-episode brand partn...

Today in the business of podcasting:

• The Podcast Study 2026 from Strategic Solutions Research and Point-To-Point Marketing finds new revenue opportunities beyond the traditional podcast ad. Nearly half of the 1,205 U.S. podcast consumers surveyed would join a free VIP club, and 46.7% have bought merchandise or attended an event.
• At Podcast Movement 2026, Amplifi Media’s Steven Goldstein ran a focus group with Gen Z NYU stud...

This week Tom Webster looks at how podcast consumers feel about politics in podcasting as the midterms approach, drawing on the politics chapter of The Podcast Landscape 2026 and, for the first time, what moved since last year.

Tom gets into:

• How the podcast audience compares to the country by party and ideology
• Whether politicians belong on podcasts, and how weekly consumers and never-consumers differ
• How likely midterm voters say...

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Podscribe’s Q3 benchmark report finds geography is the strongest targeting signal for podcast ad results, followed by a recent visit to the advertiser’s website and its Buyer Power Score.
• The Podcast Study 2026 finds only 8.6% of listeners would accept more ads to keep a podcast free, while 54.8% say shows already carry too many.
• Right Side Up’s Krystina Rubino shares how a po...

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Apple Podcasts product manager Ted Hosmann explains how video podcasts work over HLS at the IETF’s HLS Interest Day. He says top shows have grown their audience more than 20% on average since adding video, and Apple has also quietly acqui-hired members of the team behind AI audio startup Huxe.
• Audible and NielsenIQ surveyed 18,000 spoken-word listeners across 11 countries. 34% say they l...

This week in the business of podcasting:

• Tom Webster says AI is the average machine, so podcasters should hand it routine work like show notes and ad operations and protect the host-read ad and the show itself.
• Audacy's Leah Reis-Dennis argues the old podcast advertising playbook is outdated, citing 22% lower cost per acquisition on mid-sized shows, the hybrid audio and video audience, and the trust behind host-read ads.
• Signal Hi...

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Tom Webster says AI is the average machine, so hand it the routine podcasting work like show notes, transcripts and ad ops, and protect the human work of host-read ads and the show itself.
• WARC forecasts global ad spend will grow 11.9% to $1.34 trillion in 2026, with social, search and retail media taking 66.4% of spend and growth slowing to 8.4% in 2027.
• A new tool called Pod Is Life combines ...

This week Tom Webster reports back from Denver, where Content Marketing World, LIONS, and The Market Research Event shared one expo floor and nearly every booth was selling an AI-augmented something. His argument is that large language models are built to produce the most probable answer, which makes them a machine for the average, and that the real opportunity is to hand over the average work and reinvest the time in what only peo...

Today in the business of podcasting:

• A Signal Hill Insights survey of 6,161 Canadians finds AM/FM radio still holds 46% of in-car listening, while 68% of Canadians dislike AI-generated podcasts and only 4% like them.
• The Podcast Study 2026 identifies "Prime Prospects," the 18% of podcast consumers who value the host and show growing consumption, as a major opportunity to grow podcast superfans, who make up 17% of the audience.
• App...